This invention relates generally to the field of mechanical counting devices and more specifically to a cap with counter.
Many pharmaceuticals are commonly sold in pill form. Pills are portion sized single dose delivery systems for a wide variety of prescribed and over the counter medications. Most of the time, pills are sold in pill bottles which have tamper proof lids or caps. The caps generally require a downward pressure before applying a clockwise twisting action to open. The downward pressure disengages the tamper proof feature. Even over the counter pharmaceuticals such as vitamin pills incorporate this type of tamper proof feature and require downward pressure before opening. Usually instructions-regarding dosage and frequency of pill taking are printed on the side of the bottle, either by the manufacturer or by the pharmacy that is selling the pills. It is important for users of these pills to keep track of whether they took their medication on a given day. To this end, there are a number of pill containers on the market that include electronic timing devices that remind people when to take their medication.These include a vibrating watch with pill taking alarm built in, a pill vial cap that fits directly onto a pill bottle and electronically beeps when a pill taking time has arrived, and many box shapes that have timers built into them.
However there are several deficiencies in the prior technology. First, only the most sophisticated and expensive of the pill timers tells a user how many pills he or she has taken on a particular day. Second, the existing units tend to be hard to program, especially for older individuals who have had little experience with programming electronic devices. Additionally, there is a danger that the battery in an electronic pill timer device will go dead, thereby voiding any possible benefits of such a device. Finally, and most importantly, all the devices listed above are relatively expensive to purchase, especially the ones that are sophisticated enough to tell the user how many pills remain and how many pills were taken on a particular day.